How to choose your next goal after a marathon

Running a marathon is a thrill – no matter if you set a Personal Best or crawl home to the finish line.

Either way, running 26.2 miles is an achievement that most people will never accomplish. It takes guts, perseverance, and a fitness level that sets marathoners apart from mere mortals.

Despite the enormous achievement, many runners feel lost after the race.

And I don’t blame them (I certainly languished after I ran my 2:39:32 PR at the Philadelphia Marathon). After dedicating about six months to training, what do you do after you’re finally done with the marathon?

Do you try for another marathon?

Do you focus on an entirely different type of race?

Or perhaps take the rest of the year off and enjoy a life of leisure and potato chips?

While many runners dream of not running, we know that it’s not in our DNA. Like one of my athletes told me recently:

The life of a distance runner:

“At the same time as I’m cursing my long run I’m also googling marathons.”